Day Eighty-Nine

More than 90% of world's children breathe toxic air, report says, as India prepares for most polluted season

By Mary McDougall, CNN | Updated 8:47 AM ET, Mon October 29, 2018

Around 93% (1.8 billion) of the world's children breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk, a new WHO report says. In few places is this more pertinent than India where residents are bracing themselves for the country's peak polluted season.

In 2016, 600,000 children were estimated to have died from acute lower respiratory infections caused by polluted air.

Air pollution is one of the leading threats to health in children under 5, accounting for almost one in 10 deaths among this age group, the report reveals.

"This is inexcusable. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfill their full potential" said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.

“Air pollution also effects neurological development and cognitive ability and can trigger asthma and childhood cancer, the report says. Children exposed to excessive pollution may also be at greater risk of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease in adulthood.”